Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Inspired by Gaw's post on Radio 4, I thought I'd point you to my recommended listens from today's schedule:

10.00 – 10.45Ball’s Favourite BallsMichael Ball invites guests to share memories of the balls, shuttlecocks and pucks that have played pivotal roles in their lives.

First in the hot seat this week is Lembit Opik MP, who vividly recalls the “dog-chewed and half-bald tennis ball” that first inspired him to embark on a career in politics. Later in the programme Michael is joined by Joanna Lumley, who talks movingly of a cherished childhood squash ball – and how she and her friends would use it, along with Labradors and croquet mallets, to re-enact famous polo matches.

12.00 – 12.30I’ve Read a Lot of Books, But Only Good OnesAuthor Sebastian Faulks hosts the panel game in which contestants must demonstrate that they have read an awful lot of books, but only good ones. This week Tim Rice and David Mitchell argue that they have read both One Hundred Years of SolitudeandLove in the Time of Cholera, but not Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. Colin Sell is at the piano.

14.15 - 15.00Woman’s Hour DramaDeath and Dundee Cakes (13/58)Mary and Elspeth visit Beryl for coffee, while Daisy goes on a rampage and June wonders if she’ll ever find a suitable replacement for the au pair. Do the powers of Morianna Eagleclaw, ‘Princess of the Dead’, transcend mortal understanding?

18.30 - 19.30Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns: the Radio Years (3/4)Paul Merton shares his passion for early comedy in this four-part series on the Golden Age of silent radio. Using rare archived recordings and live reconstructions, Paul shows how pioneers such as Nobby Trumper and Stan ‘Spats’ McGinty developed ingenious and highly influential methods of making audiences laugh, without the benefit of modern special effects or any kind of sound or speech, and usually in a single take.

PICK OF THE DAY21.00 - 22.00You Say Potato, I Say Starchy, Tuberous Crop from the Perennial Solanum Tuberosum of the Solanaceae FamilyNew discussion show in which guests must choose to either grossly simplify or wildly complicate a controversial question. For the opening programme, ProfRichard Dawkins and Dr Rowan Williams respectively simplify and complicate the question: Does God exist? Kriss Akabusi facilitates.

22:00-22:30Round Britain PissPresented by Johnny Vegas. Contestants from places called "The Midlands" and "The North" must find what connects seemingly disperate entities like Cling-film, Wensleydale cheese and Helen Shapiro before Johnny's bladder finally gives out and he has to piss all over them.